KOLLAM: At a restaurant located at the town limit of Kerala's Kollam city, you can see a bunch of people using gold not as an ornament but as food to satiate the hunger of their clients.
The restaurant named 'Chef's Stop-The temple of foody's' owned by chef V Shine has introduced burgers containing 24-carat gold.
"If you ever have a craving to eat a gold-plated burger? One could always visit my restaurant in Kollam as this is the first time such a burger is being introduced in Kerala," said Shine.
The mere thought of eating gold leaves or flakes might sound like a luxurious royal affair. However, it is believed that this super-expensive metal has some marvellous health benefits and that's what makes it the most expensive food additive around the world, he added.
Usually, gold leaves and flakes are prepared by gold hammering and pounding the metal sheets again and again until it reaches 1/8,000 of a millimetre of thickness. To use it for consumption, the gold used is usually of the 22- to 24-carat variety.
Apart from being an expensive food additive, the addition of gold particles have also been a part of Indian royal culture and even in Ayurveda. The addition of gold dust or leaves is believed to boost health and improve cognitive skills when mixed with several herbs and spices, said the Chef.
In homoeopathy, ingested gold is considered a medicine, which has been used throughout history. It is also used pharmaceutically, for the treatment of rheumatism, said Shine.
The Chef believes food is the best medicine and if we take care of our body properly by taking the right food needed by it, there will be no need for us to visit any hospitals.